The Kirkus Prize is one of the richest literary awards in the world, with a prize of $50,000 bestowed annually to authors of fiction, nonfiction and young readers’ literature. It was created to celebrate the 81 years of discerning, thoughtful criticism Kirkus Reviews has contributed to both the publishing industry and readers at large. Books that earned the Kirkus Star with publication dates between November 1, 2015, and October 31, 2016 (see FAQ for exceptions), are automatically nominated for the 2016 Kirkus Prize, and the winners will be selected on November 3, 2016, by an esteemed panel composed of nationally respected writers and highly regarded booksellers, librarians and Kirkus critics.

KIRKUS REVIEW

An oversized album of archaeological
treasures, from an early Stone Age hand ax to a 19th-century tiki pendant.

Inviting readers to take a sort of
virtual museum tour, Nelson gathers over 140 representative artifacts into
geographical “galleries.” She presents them with both broad opening overviews
of their cultural contexts and individual descriptive notes on their features
and anthropological significance. The large illustrations are not photos but
digital images that are drawn in painstaking detail, colored in subdued or
neutral hues, and reproduced on smooth but not polished paper. With further
antique formality of design, the dimly but evenly lit objects are suspended
against monochrome backgrounds, often several to a “plate,” and well-separated
from the text. Though the focus is largely on defunct civilizations—Egypt and
Mesopotamia to Olmec, Korean Silla, and the Vikings—the author acknowledges survivors
such as the Pueblo and indigenous Australians. Readers on this side of the pond
may feel slighted, as the gallery devoted to the Americas is the smallest and
contains nothing from South America, but both the Torres Strait Islanders and
several Polynesian cultures receive nods in the Oceania section. Moreover,
rather than usual suspects like the Rosetta Stone or the so-called “Mask of
Agamemnon,” the objects on display are often less familiar funerary, religious,
or decorative objects. Many of the artifacts, particularly the gold ones, look
drab, though, and none are either shown to scale or consistently accompanied by
measurements. Furthermore, there are no maps or leads to further information.

An arbitrary assortment of relics not
likely to furnish either the insight or the glimpses of wonder that elevate
companion volume Animalium (2014). (timeline, index) (Nonfiction.
10-14)

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